Voting Rights, Election Reform, and Democracy

Post-Election Spiritual Sustenance: Join UUA president, Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, and other UU ministers and organizers, for a post-election conversation to discuss how our faith showed up for the midterms, what we learned from our work, and how we were nurtured by sacred organizing. (Aired 11/7/2018)

One of the fundamental principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is the use of the democratic process. As an expression of our faith, many Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations engage in voter registration, election reform, and protecting voting rights and democracy.

Defending the right to vote has been central to the work of the UUA and at the core of Unitarian Universalism for decades—from expanding enfranchisement for women and Black people to advocating for a path to citizenship for immigrants; from our history of civil rights engagement to taking on the New Jim Crow and white supremacy today. As a faith community UUs are vocal and active about voting rights and have contributed to change throughout history. In the past few years, UUs have been part of a groundswell of voting rights, electoral work, and democracy movements that have emerged and gained even more momentum since the 2016 US elections.

Delegates at the 2016 General Assembly in Columbus, OH, selected "The Corruption of Our Democracy" to be the 2016-2020 Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) of Congregations.

The Congregational Study/Action Issue is an invitation for congregations and districts to take a topic of concern and engage it, reflect on it, learn about it, respond to it, comment on it take action—each in their own way. A CSAI is NOT a statement—it is a question. Download the Corruption of Our Democracy CSAI Study Guide (PDF, 24 pages), (Word, 24 pages).

Theological Grounding and History

In March 2015, the Living Legacy Project and the Unitarian Universalist Association, presented the Marching in the Arc of Justice Conference, to honor the 50th anniversary of the Selma Voting Rights Campaign. This was a time for us to remember our past, honor our martyrs and their families, and recommit to the struggle for racial justice in the United States. A new Marching in the Arc of Justice Toolkit has just been released for use in your congregation or community group that includes videos from the conference, discussion guides, and small group ministry sessions.

Move to Amend: The UUA objects to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United (see 2011 and 2013 Actions of Immediate Witness), and has endorsed the move to amend the Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

We know that too often people are excluded from this process due to economic and racial bias. Ironically, the right to legislative representation is denied to the residents of the U.S. capitol, Washington, DC. The UUA works to make sure that those who are eligible to vote can do so, and to extend the right to vote to the citizens of the nation's capitol.